Geneva, Palais des Nations - May 3-6, 2000
CITIES OF THE SOUTH:
SUSTAINABLE FOR WHOM?
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ESF/N-AERUS International Workshop Geneva, Palais des Nations - May 3-6, 2000
CITIES OF THE SOUTH:
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C. Lavalle, L. Demicheli, M. Niederhuber
European Commission - DG - Joint Research Center - Space Applications Institute
Around two thirds of Central and Eastern European citizens already lives in cities (EEA, 1998), and the growth of cities' population continues. Such a trend is linked to a rapid increase in the portion of land occupied by urban areas. This also involves major problems related to environment, health, quality of life, etc., and requires new tools for an appropriate city planning.
In 1998, the General Directorate Joint Research Centre (DG JRC) of the European Commission launched the Murbandy (Monitoring URBAN Dynamics) project. With the aim to develop and provide measurements of the extent of Europe's urban areas and their progress towards sustainability, Murbandy is proposing a methodology for a better understanding of cities development. A present and three past land use databases, including road and rail networks of the same years were initially derived from remote sensing data for 25 European cities, over a 40 years period. Such information is currently being combined with socio-economic and environmental data sets to provide more comprehensive tools for studying urban systems. The land use classification is based on an extended Corine legend. A further aim of Murbandy is the modeling of urban growth scenarios to define strategies for sustainable development.
Murbandy evolved in a broader project named Moland (Monitoring Land Use/Cover Changes). Besides general information about the project and its extension, this paper is focused on five European cities, which belong to less favoured regions: the former socialistic cities of Bratislava, Prague and Tallinn (Estonia); the city of Nicosia, in Cyprus; and the Greek city of Heraklion, in Crete. Four of them are candidates to become part of the European Union within the very next years.
The paper highlights some of the major urban land use features that can be distinguished within those cities through the Moland methodology, and analyses related statistics. Bratislava, Prague and Tallinn still present typical features of socialistic cities, such as the characteristic socialistic housing-blocks. All three cities have the future potential to be a bridge between the west and the east. For instance, a motorway between Prague and Dresden has already started to being built up, and the Tallinn's harbour area is incrementing. Many foreign investors and business people are attracted by the potential economic growth of those cities. This affects the growth and development of the cities, and point at the necessity to implementing an accurate planning in a sustainable development perspective. Over the last decades, the city of Heraklion grew to become the commercial, administrative, transporting and cultural centre of the island of Crete with a population of 180,000 inhabitants. Major problems of the city include lack of planning and infrastructures, traffic congestion, and the lack of green urban areas as well as sport and leisure facilities. The evolution of the Nicosia heavily depends on the political events during the century that splits the city into a southern Greek and a northern Turkish part. These constraints affect the overall planning effort and the development of Nicosia. The historical centre of Nicosia is an outstanding example of international architectural heritage, which has to be preserved.
N-AERUS: Network-Association of European Researchers on Urbanisation in the South
ESF/N-AERUS: International workshop - Geneva, Palais des Nations - May 3-6, 2000
http://www.naerus.net